Just how high above $100 will oil go?

Market Pulse for June 17

An interesting question from yesterday’s Father’s Day BBQ from non-traders.

First, last week’s price action on August 2013 Crude Oil opened the week at $96.36 and closed the week at $98.07, with the biggest moves coming Thursday and Friday. The media spin on the $1.97 move up was the unrest in the Middle East, more specifically the Syrian crisis. Now, last time I looked Syria is not a huge oil producing country, but the media said the unrest there could cause a problem for shipments. Exactly how much crude oil does the United States receive from the Middle East? See the 2013 graph below. I think you can see if we angered Canada that that would be a much more serious crude issue.